hen the players leave the turf andthe lights come up on the SuperBowl halftime show, excitement builds asmusicians and dancers flood the field andentertainers approach the stage. But it’s notjust the celebrities that work the crowd into afrenzy—it’s the music that’s swelling, creatingthe desired atmosphere.

Kirk Powell (MFA 2003, Theatre) a design
engineer for ATK Audiotek, makes moments
like these possible. Powell designs sound
systems for some of the world’s largest and
most prestigious events, such as the Super
Bowl, the GRAMMY Awards ceremony, and
this year’s Democratic National Convention
(DNC). And he learned how to use sound
to transform the way people perceive the
world around them during his time in
the Department of Theatre’s sound design
program in the Patti & Rusty Rueff School
of Visual and Performing Arts.

Sound design places an emphasis on
audience experience. “We experience the
world in t wo major ways: what we see and
what we hear,” says Professor Rick Thomas,
who coordinates the program. And in this
field, he explains, “We see the world through
our ears.”

WCreating a Worldthrough Sound

A passion for the ways sound has an
impact on others is what led Thomas to earn
a master of fine arts degree in sound from
Purdue in the late 1970s. He joined the Purdue
faculty in 1980, and has led the creation of
original productions where music plays an
integral role, such as Spring Awakening and

Ad Infinitum³, as well as created nearly 100
sound scores and audio designs for the theatre.

To deepen his students’ experience, heestablished relationships across campusto shape an interdisciplinary program,maintaining partnerships with Hall of MusicProductions, WBAA National Public Radio,the College of Engineering, and the PurduePolytechnic Institute. “The people who knewanything about sound were scattered acrosscampus,” said Thomas, “My eagerness forknowledge helped me break down the barriersbetween them for the sake of learning.”Students in the program are as diverseas the program itself. Thomas loves whenpassionate students in a variety of majorswant to be involved. “There is a fundamentalhuman need for art,” he says. “Art knowsno boundaries.”The graduate sound design programbegan in 1976 (with Thomas as its firststudent) and provides students with ahands-on, career-focused approach. In 2012,the program was expanded to undergraduateswho wanted to major in sound for theperforming arts, expanding students’knowledge in the areas of sound design,technology, and engineering. The program,while small, has placed students in entry-levelcareers with companies like Disneyand Dream Works.Sound engineering can be especiallydifficult when a live event is also televised—like many of the high-profile jobs Powelldesigns. “Televised events such as the DNCand Super Bowl can be challenging whensound echoes back into the microphones.You may have 80,000 people in the stands,but there could be 100 million or more peoplewatching it at home on TV. If the peopleat home can’t understand the president orhalftime show, then you have a big problem.”Thomas works closely alongside hisstudents to help them work through thesecomplex problems, and this personalizedapproach to education sets Purdue graduatesapart from their peers in a field that is highlycompetitive. Powell experienced this benefit,noting, “The people I met at Purdue literallybrought me in to my career.”